The Burning Girls

How it reads

The Burning Girls is thriller (supernatural thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a small town setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are secrets, faith and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.